1SS7.J General Notes. I Co 



More News of Ardea wuerdemanni. — I have lately received from Mr. 

 R. X. Stuart, of Tampa, Florida, four specimens of A. wuerdemanni, 

 which were taken on the small island southwest of Cape Sable, Florida. 

 Mr. Stuart writes me he procured six examples of this rare bird, as well 

 as a fine series of Ardea occidentalism which he found breeding in Decem- 

 ber, and obtained many eggs. Several sets of eggs of Haliaetus Icuco- 

 cephalus were taken in the same locality. — Charles B. Cory, Boston, 

 Mass. 



Ardea egretta in Niagara County, N. Y. — In April, 1SS4, I reported to 

 the 'Forest and Stream' the capture of three birds of this species in the ad- 

 joining county of Orleans, on Nov. 2S, 18S3. At that time I little ex- 

 pected that I would ever have an opportunity to mention its occurrence 

 nearer home. But on the iSth of last August two specimens were 

 brought to me, by different persons, for identification, both taken in 

 the town of Newfane, this county, near the village of Olcott, on Lake 

 Ontario. I did not have an opportunity to learn the sex, but took the 

 measurements of one of them : Length, 36^ inches; wing, 15^; tarsus, 6. 

 — J. L. Davison, Lockport, Niagara County, N. T. 



Further Notes on the Masked Bob-white (Colinus ridgivayi). — Mr. J. C. 

 Cahoon, who is at present collecting in Northern Mexico, has just sent me 

 ten specimens of the Masked Bob-white, taken February 5-8, 1SS7, in the 

 province of Sonora, about fifty miles south of the United States boun- 

 dary. 



The eight males included in this series show an even greater range of 

 variation than the ten birds of the same sex so carefully described* by Mr. 

 Allen. Two agree closely with the male figured in Mr. Allen's plate, hav- 

 ing similarly solid black foreheads and throats, and plain, rich cinnamon 

 underparts relieved by only a few markings of black or white on the cris- 

 sum and under tail-coverts. Both show traces of a white superciliary 

 stripe, which in one extends forward to the front border of the eye, in the 

 other to within about a quarter of an inch of the nostril. 



The remaining six males have the mask and underparts more or less 

 freely sprinkled with white. Rather curiously, those which have the 

 most white about the head show the least beneath, and those which are 

 largely white beneath have the mask nearly immaculate. In the specimen 

 representing the extreme of the former condition the crown is scarcely 

 darker than in C. virginianus, while a white stripe, averaging about one- 

 tenth of an inch in width, extends along the side of the head from the 

 nostrils to the nape, passing just over the eye. The chin, also, is nearly 

 pure white, and the throat everywhere thickly spotted with white, the 

 only unmixed black areas being a small patch just below the eye and a 

 'cravat' about half an inch wide on the jugulum. 



The bird illustrating the other extreme has the central line of the abdo- 



* Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., No. 7, July, 1886, pp. 273-290, pi. xxiii. 



